I've been kicking around an idea for a character in a Reign of Winter game, a Kellid Ranger (Horse Lord), and I was wondering...do y'all think the alternate human racial trait "Eye for Talent" is worth the loss of the feat?

Eye for Talent - Humans have great intuition for hidden potential. They gain a +2 racial bonus on Sense Motive checks. In addition, when they acquire an animal companion, bonded mount, cohort, or familiar, that creature gains a +2 bonus to one ability score of the character's choice. This racial trait replaces the bonus feat trait.

Another opinion poll: If I do go with a Kellid Ranger, I can't decide if I should be focused on Dexterity, Strength, or try to go even on both. The Trick-Riding feat is pretty awesome, but requires wearing Light or no armor, and that requires a pretty big investment in dex that I'm not sure I should commit to.

Another good option seems like it'd be a Mounted Fury Barbarian. Regardless, you'd want to be level 10 before you went into Mammoth Rider for either the 5th rage power or the 3rd combat style feat. So let's compare:

The basic difference seems like the Ranger has greater versatility while the Barbarian is tougher and has a greater potential for pure damage output. Of course, I suppose if you're aiming for Mammoth Rider, that should be enough to make your decision for you.

I've had a Horse Lord Ranger ready in HeroLab for a month now, but I saw the Mounted Fury Barbarian on another thread about the Mammoth Rider and it piqued my interest...now I can't decide which I wanna go with!

While I'm thinking of it...you guys have been a really good gaming group and I really enjoy playing with you all very much. Each of you has volunteered to run a PbP of each AP that has been released since Jade Regent, and since I've gotten my proverbial feet wet - heck, since I've dove into PbPs headfirst - I thought it was time for me to get my DMing feet wet. I can always put my Kellid Horse Lord in a different game.

So...if y'all are up for it, I'll volunteer to DM a Reign of Winter PbP and open it up to you guys first. Haven't created the thread or anything yet, of course, just figured I would give y'all a heads-up.

Woo! That gives us two players from this group...you and Daniel. I'm thinking I'll recruit up to five or six players. That seems to be the standard going rate for PbP recruitment, just in case some people have to drop out.

Sounds good! I think a Ranger will be a good class to play in RoW. That would give us four people from our group playing. Full party size! I might try and recruit one or two more, but perhaps not. The party so far would be a Shapeshifter Ranger and Winter Witch. Any idea which form you would go with, Hector?

No idea, I'm still tossing things around. I'll probably go through several character concepts before I decide on one. I also thought of something. From the description, it seems like we won't be starting in Irrisen, but will be going through a portal and end up there. When the player's guide comes out, I hope they let us know where we'll be beginning at, as it might influence my character.

Sorry I haven't posted anything in the last few days. I just had laser vision correction surgery last week and am just now getting to where I can stare at the monitor and actually make out most of the words!

Yeah that stuff can take some getting used to. No worries on the posting, truth be told seems like our JR game is sort of our "lazy" game in that we seem to be moving slower than other games but we keep moving along at our pace just fine :P

I may be deciding on what to play for Reign of Winter (and I'm really starting to warm to the shapeshifter idea), but I know what I want to play for the as-so-far unnamed Worldwound Crusade AP after it. Dhampir Inquisitor (or paladin). Because a half-vampire demon hunter is just too cool not to do.

That does sound really cool. And actually, they have named that AP. There was a naming contest of sorts on one of the message boards. If memory serves, it's going to be called "Wrath of the Righteous."

Also, Happy Thanksgiving to all of my PbP friends! I'm thankful to have such an awesome group of role-players to hang out with!

Regarding the Reign of Winter AP, after reading the "Snows of Summer" blurb and doing a bit more research, it seems that the AP isn't necessarily going to start in Irrisen; in fact, it's encouraged for it to start somewhere else, in a small town called Heldren, designed to fit pretty much anywhere within Avistan. So..it seems like the opening is more-or-less where we want it.

I wanted to get votes from everyone and see where y'all thought you'd like to get this shindig started when the time comes. Cheliax, Taldor, Varisia, Kyonin. Any place will work.

I'd say somewhere human-centric and in Avistan. As we'll be spending at least a fair portion of the AP in Irrisen, it would be a little jarring for our characters to be from warm climes. Not that we all need to be already used to being in furs, but at least acclimated to more temperate zones. I'd also think somewhere near-ish to Irrisen would be better to give our characters more emotional involvement. The only thing I can gather, though, is that it describes Heldren as being "far to the south".

But really I think it amounts to wherever the group wants its characters to be from. I still think it would be best to wait for the Player's Guide.

You're correct that it starts in Taldor, Wellard. Helgren is not too far from Zimar, which is near the southern border of Taldor.

I'm thinking about explaining my barbarian as having attempted to join a Taldan military force, but he was turned down because whenever he was injured in a fight, even a little, he flew into a wild rage. Basically, for the first few levels at least, if the guy takes more than one or two HP of damage, he immediately rages until he's out of rage or the fight's over.

Not optimal, I know, but I think it'd be interesting to play a character who for the first little while of his adventuring career, is unable to control his outbursts.

So...Reign of Winter should be starting in the next three weeks or so, right at our doorstep! I wanted to go ahead and ask again which of the people in this game were wanting to play that adventure path so I could figure out if any extra recruiting needs to be done.

So...if any of you were wanting to play in the RoW game I'll run, please let me know. Thank you!

I don't know. I'm kind of waiting to see the player's guide for this one. The title alone gives me pause: Reign of Winter. Between the Jade Regent game going to the Crown of the world, Skyrim, and real world weather, I'm already getting tired of wintery-ness. I don't know if I'd want another game set in snow and ice.

I was fighting a dragon which tried to land and skidded right past me ..a spectacularly bad landing that took it well away from me and allowed me to fill it full of arrows as it went past and tried to regain it's feet.